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Thursday, November 04, 2010

Abuser makes victim pray after abuse

It gets worse – the abuser was the victim’s father. The man was working with youth as a church official at the time of the abuse. He would sexual abuse his daughter, and then make her pray for forgiveness. The crime makes me cringe. The emotional toll is incalculable. The hypocrisy is stunning. Unfortunately, the perpetrator will only spend 3.4 years in prison.

The 45-year-old man's name must remain suppressed - a request from his family - as he begins a three year four month jail term on five indecency charges against the girl.

His daughter said she lost all respect for the church, God and the Bible as a result of her father's offending.

"He was supposed to be Christian but look at all the evil he was doing.'' She said he looked like a monster to her. He would make her pray with him for forgiveness after the sexual abuse, but she knew she had not done anything wrong.

It sound like the girl is one of growing number of people who become atheists by way of clergy sexual abuse, or worse. I had an atheist reader try to tell me that this was rare, I disagreed. I think it becoming less so.

I’ve had never come across a case where a religious abuser makes the victim pray after the abuse, but I happen to be listening to Sam Harris’s new book, The Moral Landscape, while driving today. He mentions the phenomenon in relation to another case. I found his description of the crime disquieting and the mental images it conjured terrible. I think about this young girls abuse in the same way. There is something about making the victim of a sexual crime responsibility for the acts of the perpetrator that is morally repugnant.